from our friends at New School Reoccupied:

10 PM, UNION SQ: RALLY AND PRESS CONFERENCE!

NYPD and New School assaulted bystanders, pepper-sprayed students, and ended our fucking occupation.

Come show your solidarity with the people whom Bob Kerrey “no longer considers students “  at 10pm, Union Square, south steps.

SOLIDARITY WITH ALL WHO OCCUPY!

At approximately  11 am, police entered into the Graduate Student Building on 65 Fifth Avenue with riot gear and pepper spray.  The 19 students involved in the occupation were arrested a few supporters on the sidewalk were thrown to the ground, maced, and eventually handcuffed in a scuffle with the police.  Shortly after, the students who were involved were whisked away from the building in paddy wagons.

Bob Kerry, the President of the New School, issued a statement at 1:02 to the “community,” stating:

“Accordingly, in this case the university asked the New York Police Department to remove and arrest those who were trespassing on our property. We suspended, pending administrative review, all New School students who were a part of this action.”

This, the latest thread in a pattern of occupations, is proof that students around this city, around this world, are no longer exclusive from each other’s struggles.  This is real, and its not over yet.

Students at New School have occupied the ENTIRE

BUILDING of the Graduate Building. Be there or be square! More info to come!

Roving Lecture #1: Socially Responsible Finance

As the days pass since the NYU student occupation of Kimmel, I have finally had a chance to read some of the press Take Back NYU! has received in response to our actions. While we have received an outpouring of support from across the globe, including student activists at major universities and renowned intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, Take Back NYU! has also come under harsh criticism from many people who have consistently misunderstood the importance and legitimacy of the student occupation of NYU.

While much of the criticism of the student occupation has been directed at the various demands of Take Back NYU!, deeming them vague and disjointed, these critics have repeatedly failed to analyze the actual substance of the demands themselves. They are far from disconnected or irrelevant – each demand of the occupation stems from the same framework, one demanding accountability, transparency, and social justice for all. Not only is it a glaring oversight not to see their binding thread, but it is crucial to recognize that all progressive social movements are inextricably linked together. As Martin Luther King made clear towards the end of his life, it was impossible to struggle within the civil rights movement without simultaneously struggling against the Vietnam war and all forms of American imperialism. Take Back NYU! understands that demands for disclosure of the budget are profoundly related to demands for the right of graduate students to unionize. These demands reject the notion that profit should hold primacy over individual lives and reflect a desire for democracy, transparency, and protection of human rights. The ability of the student body to hold their university accountable for their actions is only possible with disclosure of the budget. Thus, the central demand of the Take Back NYU! campaign is and always has been full disclosure. We are incapable of exerting a say in the financial decisions of the administration if we remain unaware of where the money is being spent. Knowledge of the budget is necessary for future political campaigns on campus, such as divestment from Israel. While a divestment campaign is currently building on campus, we felt that the campaign had not yet gained enough momentum to be included as one of our demands. However, our solidarity with the people of war torn Gaza and the people of Palestine as a whole remains intact, and we sought for our demands to reflect this position.

While Take Back NYU! ultimately challenged the formal means of expressing political opposition, they did not take this step from the beginning. For two years, Take Back NYU! has traveled down the traditional channels of voicing political dissent – from town hall meetings to electing a student senator on our platform – all of which consistently proved unproductive. All attempts to engage in meaningful dialogue were repeatedly ignored and never once were our grievances directly addressed. The occupation of Kimmel came as a result of two years of campaigning and two years of being pushed aside, ignored, and mocked by the NYU administration. Through occupation, Take Back NYU! attempted to push the NYU administration into a position where they could no longer run away but instead would be forced to interact with us. Unfortunately, what Take Back NYU! did not fully understand was the degree of trickery and deceit the administration would employ to expel the students from the building. They used numerous scare tactics, from calling students’ parents threatening expulsion to turning off the power and internet connection inside the building. But worst of all was their final decision to lie and deceive the negotiators. NYU informed the occupiers they would be able to meet with the administration, and in good faith, the negotiators went into a room to begin proceedings. When they entered the room, they were denied negotiations, told they were suspended until further hearings, and could not return to the rest of the occupying students. The administration’s failure to address the students’ demands reflects the fundamental factors behind the demands themselves - the lack of democracy, transparency, and student say in how their university is run.

Most of the students engaged in this protest are on financial aid, have taken out massive loans, or work jobs to pay for their education. All of the students have acted out of sincere commitment to the values of social justice, democracy, and education. So, of all of the criticisms, what may be most disturbing is the assertion that the student protesters are privileged whiners. They have worked tirelessly to receive a quality education, one they are only seeking to improve. But a student’s economic standing is ultimately beside the point. In a democratic society, all individuals, whether or not economically privileged, have an obligation to fight for the human rights of others. Those with political, social, or economic leverage hold an ever greater responsibility to utilize their position and education as a means of helping others.

The NYU student occupation is merely one manifestation of the new wave of international student activism that is currently emerging. The Take Back NYU! occupation was inspired by the countless other student uprisings across the globe, from Greece to the New School here in New York City. In the UK alone, there have been 25 similar student occupations. Just as Take Back NYU! has learned from these student bodies that we can assert our dissent through nontraditional channels, the NYU occupation will undoubtedly inspire other students to do the same. To every student around the world struggling against the injustice actions of their schools, it is absolutely crucial to remember that your school belongs to nobody but you. There would be no school without its students. It is our duty to force schools to put students over profit, transparency over secrecy, and democracy over control by the elite. It is time to rise up and resist - assert your voice and let the world know that human lives must always hold primacy over economic gain. As students we must never forget that we are struggling together to fight the same powers that seek to silence us. And most importantly, in the words of Frederick Douglass, we must remember that “power concedes nothing without a demand.”

At approximately 3:30pm today, unsuspecting students in the lobby of Bobst were surprised by a shower of papers that fell from the floors above. One of the fliers read:

“We are PEOPLE not PROFIT.”

Another flier read:

“The time has come to begin our refusal. We cannot allow ourselves to stand idly by while NYU profits by our intelligence, lining other people’s pockets while our future slips away. The crises we face are too great for self-interest-as-usual.

This is the beginning of their end, and our beginning. Out of their fall, we will rise.

Will you rise with us?”

This one was followed by a picture of a bottle with flames (that look suspiciously like the NYU torch symbol) bursting from the top.

Anonymously submitted video after the jump.

Continue Reading »

On Tuesday evening, NYU filed a complaint to the NYPD that there would be a student protest somewhere around Washington Square Park. At 11pm there were approximately 30 police cars, one or two paddy wagons for mass-arrests, and other NYPD vehicles. In addition to the heavily increased NYU security and presence of top security officials, at least 75 police officers lingered in front of NYU buildings. They remained outside setting up barricades, blocking off the street, and eating their dinners in the cold. Half of the entrances to Bobst library were closed off and guards checked NYU ID cards at the doors in addition to the normal swiping turnstyles. The Kimmel Center’s lobby was teeming with NYU security.

Yet there was no protest.

When asked to comment, an NYU security guard in Bobst library stated that there had been reports of a possible protest. He made a comment to someone entering that “You can’t be too careful on a night like tonight.”

A policemen, when asked to report on the situation stated that “We were given word that there was going to be some sort of protest but we don’t really know… You should go study.” Another officer, “We want to make sure nobody steals books.”

NYU is a private institution with its own security guards and regulations. It is abusing tax-payer dollars to use public servants in the defense of private issues. Pedestrians commented, “Shouldn’t they be off fighting crimes or something?”, “Do they really need all those cops to fight off NYU students?”, “NYU is going to arrest its students, obviously.”

The fact that the university would menace its own students with arrest is a sad indicator of the state of affairs. NYU is clearly sending a message to the university community that it will not tolerate protest in any way shape or form. The administration has been consistently heavy-handed with students, to the point that they would burden city budget in a distressed economic time to ensure student voices go unheard. That being said, there is no actual protest outside.  Its as if this university has no control over the situation without the help of this city’s police force; and tonight, they were certainly out and about.  After the occupation of Kimmel in February, NYU has become very skittish, and is eagerly trying to dispell any possibility for students to demonstrate.  NYU wants to be known as a school for the acquiescent.

This afternoon, between 1 and 2pm, the Graduate Student Organizing Committee held a sit-in in Elmer Holmes Bobst Library. GSOC has been fighting for the right to organize since the end of the Clinton presidency. The NYU administration took advantage of the Bush administration in order to deny the union the right to exist, revoking rights they had previously maintained.

NYU, now suspicious of student protest, nervously surrounded the protesters with security guards, security officials and various administrators. The administration clearly feels threatened by increased activism on NYU’s campus.

At 2pm the protestors peacefully disbanded.

More photos after the jump.

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We came, we saw, we occupied. Now what?

Two weeks ago, NYU’s Kimmel Center was occupied for just under 40 hours. Take Back NYU! invites you to a conversation about the issues brought up by the occupation. Bring thoughts, criticisms, opinions, and frustrations to engage in a constructive dialogue about TBNYU!, their tactics, their demands, student activism, and social change.

Sponsored by Take Back NYU!
Thursday, March 5, 2009, 7-9 PM
Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South, Room 220

Facebook event: tinyurl.com/talkbacknyu

WE DID IT!!!!

In the wake of the NYU administration’s draconian response to student protest, we called out for help and you answered our cry.  You stood behind us, and rallied in defense of accountability and student democracy. You made calls, you wrote letters, you signed petitions, you made our cry heard across the globe, and it worked!!  The administrations has agreed to end our undue suspensions and reinstate us in good standing. We would like to thank you all for your steadfast support, and for your unwavering commitment to change at NYU and around the world.

But it’s not over yet!

The NYU administration remains as obstinate and secretive as ever, and the struggle for student power and global justice has just begun. It is more crucial then ever that we make our voices heard and stand up to those who profit from our silence.

Organize! The time has come to question what you think you can’t change, and to demand the answers you deserve. Start conversations, engage in dialogue and question what you are told to blindly accept. Take action! Do not sit by and let your rights wither away from lack of use.

This is your school, your community and your world, and it’s up to you to take it back!